Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.
The Laches OF the FOrty.Ninth Con-
eress-HOW Precious Time is
Wasted-ReROrms Needed.
Wealth of the Farwell Syndicaue-The Story
of Secretary Manning's Appoint
ment TO the Treasury.
Correspondence of the Gazette.

worse. Some beneficial legislation ha!
been enacted and some measures hsv,
7 become laws whose utility and necessit,
2 must be proved by Xperiment-notably
the interstate commerce bill. The
EpiscOpalian prayer fits the Forty -nintE
Congress. Much has been left undOne tina
should have been done, snC
? many things were done whict
should not have been done. But there i:
) one feature of the FOrty-ninth Congress.
which should serve as an example anC
warning to Congresses yet to follow, anC
that IS the very insane policy which wa:
pursued of putting off for consideration
to the last moment important bill:
which should have had tht
fullest and most careful investi
, cation. By this system of procrastina-
ton there were quite q number Of bills
left over from this Congress which would
have become laws, to the great advantage
of diversified interests, had there been al
opportunity to call them up and discuss
them. This evil emanates largely from
the latitude which is allowed Senators
and members to indulge in indefinite and
oftentimes useless debate in the early
period OF the session, TO the detriment OF
business of grave public character. 1t is
OF course unpleasant to seek TO CuTtaIl
the OratoriCal aspirations OF ambitious
COngressmen,a and the tiedglings who flock
together every session, but still there
ought to be wide discretion used In the
matter, and Senators and members,
old or young, should bear in mind that
they come TO Washington for the purpose
Of serving their country, AMI not the bet
tering Of their political fortunes. Public
hn nd
which mas for its effect the advancement
Of party next, should be the leading idea
borne in mind. Perhaps the shortcomings
of the Forty-ninth Congress in this re-
speCt may prove useful as guide to sue
ceeding Congresses, and enable those
who compose them to lay claim TO the
pIaudit OF "Weu done, good and faithful
! servants"
/ Senator Charles V. Farweu says that
! he thinks he and his partners, his brother
and Abner Taylor of Chicago, will make
| from SIS 000, 900 to $40, zoo, 900 in their
/ Texas land speculation. 1t is said that
| the state OF Texas has given TO the Far
we'll Company 1000, 900 acres Of the best
lard in Texas. TIE land to-day is worth
50 an acre and the state
buildings did not cost more than
81 900 600. The land is all fenced in.
SeVenty-ive thousand cattle are now On
| it and more are to follow. 1t comprises
enough territory for 3 principally. The
FarWell Company have their headquarters
in London. English capitalists own
about one-quarter of the stock. This
great and successful venture was brought
to the FarWells by an impeCunious and
visionary man, who obtained The contracts
which he sold to the FarWel Company.
The story goes that the man happened to
be in Austin and, hearing that the state
was Offering the land to any one who
would put up state buildings, he calmly
walked up and took the contract, when
he had barely enough money in his pocket
to pay his fare 10 Chicago. The same
men who gave away such block Of land
rather than raise the money n6Ces-
sarY Dy taxation, of course never
dreamed of questioning the con-
tractors financial ability. He had
some trouble in convincing the Farwelis
Of the value Of the land, owing to their
distru8t of the visionary contractors
Judgment, but investigation showed the
value, and so the contract was purchased
for few thousand dollars, and a prop
erty was obtained which will net It's
owners many millions.
The way in which Daniel Manning
came to be selected by Prest- /
dent Cleveland as Secretary of the !
Treasury, is not generally known. L is /!
told in this wise: Mr.. Cleveland, after
his election as President, went to Grey
tone to have talk with Mr.. Tilden
The interview was private. Mr.. Manning, /
who accompanied Cleveland, was at least /
part of the time in an adjoining room. /
Cleveland, in naming over his desires as /
t. Cabinet selections, said that he could |
not %hlt upon just the right man for .
the treasury. "Why," whispered .
Tiiden, "You need not look fer .
for just the right man; he is in the next .
room" Cleveland demurred that he had /
already settled upon Whitney for Secreta-
ry OF the Navy, and questioned whether
it would do to take two members of the (
Cabinet from New York. The greatness
of the state, it's vast interests and it's DO
Iitical Importance were taken into &C
count. AS a result, Manning's name
grew upon Cleveland, and the Albany
banker and publisher went into the Cabi-
net.
1t is commonly said that Mr.. Spoffold,
the Librarian of Congress, knows some
thing about the contents Of every volume
in the library which now numbers over
600, 900 books. This is practically true.
He has wonderful memory, and his
perceptive faculties are so acute
he can Gull the essence of
q book, magazine, or paper,
within very brief period, and then he
locks this information in his commodious
brain and keeps it, as it were, con tap"
His intuition is marvellous and his meth
DDS Of dispatchiDg business none the less
remarkable, He often dictates letter
to his assistant, opens the YOluminOus
mail Of the office and gives q direction to
the desk clerk all at one time
aud without the slightest effort.
\ member of Congress once said: Il
don't read books, when | want to know
anything; read SpofOrd." In that way,
he added he got the whole library 81 one
glsnce. A f2ure of speech, but not IS
broad as it sounds. If q member or a
SOP stor wants quotation that cannot be
ke4lnd in any of the compilations
Quotations, and especially
II Ut is of very obscure origin,
he goes to- MI. Spoford. If he wants the
best authority on any subject, or, indeed,
If he wants to learn anything that may be
found in any of the thousands OF volumes
the library, he goes to the
same source. Members seldom think of
looking at the catalogues. They simply
"tap" the librarian, who keeps his fOun-
tain Of knowledge always running.
-@H--
Chicago has Her Boodlers.
CHICAGO, Ill, March 12.-The Times
this morning says Warden Frey of the
County Infrmary has confessed. He has,
il ia stated seen the state'G attorney and